Thanksgiving 2013

Thanksgiving Round #2 with the Lamonts was a relaxing day of playing, football, turkey frying and smoking, and lots and lots of eating.  We smoked a turkey and fried a turkey this year, so next year it looks like we will need to come up with another form of turkey cooking for a third one.  While we miss spending Thanksgiving with our families, we are so grateful to have our own little family to celebrate with here in Bethel.  We've enjoyed each holiday here more and more, as we come up with new traditions of our own and  build memories.  With an interactive little one it's all the more fun.

Well-prepared in the event of a turkey-frying emergency

What can we say?  He's a growing boy.

  

We are thankful for so many things this past year, the most obvious being the birth of our healthy, sweet baby boy and the joy he has brought and the lessons he has taught.  We are also grateful for so many other provisions God has given to us: a new job, the flexibility both our jobs allow for us to spend so much time with Zeke, Aaron's first moose that fed us nearly all year long, growing community connections in Bethel and the church here, the ability to take family trips together, and the great weather we have had this year to enjoy our outdoor hobbies.  There are always trials and challenges, but there are even more blessings.  We are so thankful.

Eight Months in a Nutshell

It has been a long time.  Eight months...oops.  Needless to say, a lot has happened since then.  With a few trips, a new job for me, growing ministry for Aaron, an unusually high quantity of nice days last summer, constant rearrangement projects in our house to move objects to a higher location out of a little one's reach, and a busy baby boy, blogging just got put on the backburner for awhile.  Here is a quick snapshot of...eight months.

We took a trip to the Midwest at the end of March for family to meet Zeke.  It was his first big trip, with a red-eye flight from Anchorage to Chicago included.  This is how he felt about the whole ordeal initially.

But it was a fun whirlwind of two weeks.  Family pictures with Aaron's family (Photo credit to Rex Rule Photography)

Cousins!  From my side of the family

 Once back home, it was back to normal.  Zeke loved tummy time from the time he was born.  We did a lot of this back in the Spring.

Then came teething.

Mother's Day Brunch 2013

I had a meeting for work in Sitka, Alaska at the beginning of June, so the boys joined me.  We enjoyed the Sea Life Center.

And beautiful hiking

We decided Sitka would be an awesome place to live for the outdoor activities alone.

As soon as the river broke up we took Zeke on his first boat ride

He got to be a pro at it

With all the nice weather and a new net, we put away a lot of fish over the summer too.

I couldn't believe it, but Zeke became an Alaskan Sun Baby/Beach Bum

One of Zeke's first foods, avocado.  Sweet potato was another.  Not a fan of the avocado anymore, but loves sweet potato and anything squash.

Then came the crawling, no more than six months old.

And the standing followed no more than a week later.

Zeke was dedicated at church on August 4th, along with 4 other babies from our Baby Boom last winter/spring.

We did some berry-picking this fall.  The blueberries were plentiful and the cranberries were awesome this year.

We took a much needed family trip to Anchorage, just because.

While in Anchorage, Zeke had his first pool experience!

 Loved the splashing...not the cold water and rambunctious kids on the other side of the pool.

One of Zeke's favorite hangouts is the pantry. There are so many things to dump out and play with.

Zeke can *almost* walk and has been that way for about a month now.  He really could if he wanted to.  We are encouraging him every step of the way, though some think we should be afraid.  We have excitement for this new stage, though, not fear.  

Kiah is as stoic as ever and enjoying the more playful Zeke these days.

We discovered Zeke LOVES music, especially playing it himself.  When we lose sight of him for a few moments, we often hear the guitar being strummed in Aaron's office seconds later.  I think we know what kind of toys to get him from now on.

We had several nice Fall days, so Zeke was able to enjoy some first swing rides at the park

We had a lion for Halloween.

Winter is coming!  It is starting to get colder, and we have had a few snows, so we're gearing up to prepare.

Other tidbits about Ezekiel: Dada and Mama have become his prime vocabulary, and of course Dada is chosen when something fun is going on, and Mama is resorted to when in dire need and tears.  Four teeth have popped through and caused little distress.  The hair is now thoroughly in his eyes, but no cutting it just yet.  Can't bring ourselves to do it.  Plus, how could he be Aaron's son if he was clean cut so quickly in life?  Separation anxiety has peaked, but there are times he does really well on his own too.  His eyes have turned from blue to hazel, neither Aaron's nor my eyes.  They look green when he wears green.  He does not like loud environments with abrupt movement--we think he is an introvert.  He and Kiah are best of friends.  They both like to throw toys and chase them, as well as chew on them at the same time.  Live and let live we decided.  He does not stop moving until we lay him down in his crib to go to sleep.  We are in trouble.

So there it is in a nutshell, the past eight months of our lives.  We're enjoying our little man more and more each day and life is good.